what is the difference between a pot and a pan?

settle this once and for all, dear readers.

There is not a difference ("not a" is an anagram of the letters different between the two words).

This answer isn't actually true tho.

i always thought a pot was designed to be filled with liquid and "pan" covered a broad spectrum of other cooking vessels.

A pan has one long handle, a pot usually has two smaller ones.

usually?

Coffee pots and teapots are an exception, they have one looped handle (but *not* a pan-type handle). They're more of a jug variant anyway though.

pans can be flatter (like frying pan, but not frying pot)

I think initially a pot would have been clay/earthenware based and a pan would have been metallic, but they've been mixed up over time.

Pots are deeper and narrower and pans are ^^ flatter and wider. Also, different etymology?

Who the hell are the people who are confused about this?

Pot
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/81/Pot_de_chambre_4.jpg/526px-Pot_de_chambre_4.jpg
Pan
http://antiquescientifica.com/bedpan_pewter_Cocks_London.jpg

I've never really thought about how old bed pans worked. And I don't think I'm going to start now.

pans are good for hitting people on the head with. you can't do that easily with a pot.

Pots are deeper and narrower and pans are ^^ flatter and wider. Also, different etymology?

So you're saying a saucepan is actually a pot? Controversial!

Pots are good for protecting your head with if someone is hitting you with a pan. xp

Pot:

I. A vessel used for storage, cooking, etc.
1.
a. A relatively deep vessel (typically with a cylindrical or otherwise rounded body and made of earthenware, metal, plastic, etc.) used chiefly to hold a liquid or solid substance.

Pan:

I. A shallow vessel, and related senses.
1.
a. A vessel made of metal or (formerly) earthenware, usually broad and shallow and often open, used for cooking and other domestic purposes. Freq. in pl. in collocation with pots, as pots and pans.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1900A_ktEg&playnext=1&list=PLBEFF9BAA2D8D372D

pan ^^^

When critics pan a movie or a book, that is what they are figuratively doing.

Pots are deeper and narrower and pans are ^^ flatter and wider. Also, different etymology?

So you're saying a saucepan is actually a pot? Controversial!

Yeah, I wonder why they aren't called saucepots? Because they've only got the one handle?

yes, you have homed in on it - "saucepan" is to blame here

oh, you saucy pot

pots get accused of being a hypocrite when it insults kettles, pans get away with it.

saucepan is still a pan because it's usually still wider than it's high?

A vessel made of metal or (formerly) earthenware, usually broad and shallow and often open, used for cooking and other domestic purposes.

sinister

xp
I'd mention asparagus pans here but I don't want to muddy the waters.

Or casserole dishes which are clearly not dishes.

Hm, I am wondering if it is a sauce "pan" because you reduce the liquids? But with a pot, you are trying to keep the liquids from evaporating?

sinister

Basically assault and pooping.

so it's height/diameter ratio? <1 = pan, >1 = pot?

rule of thumb

Pans have to be broader than they are tall to balance out the weight of the one long handle.

Simple pan physics.

you ever try flying pot-am? no? well that's settled then.

by law, if it's more than 75% as tall as it is wide, it's a pot, and if it's less than that, it's a pan.

Seriously, it is important that you know this stuff if you're thinking of getting involved in the cookware blackmarket as the penalties do differ greatly between pot-dealing and panhandling.

wahey

"milkpan": http://www.johnlewis.com/231034624/Product.aspx

loooool NickB

http://0.tqn.com/d/alcoholism/1/0/2/v/1/marijuana11.jpghttp://www.sciencemusings.com/blog/images/pan.jpg

lol

Haha max A+

also I don't really get the confusion. This is like when a guy asked me what is the difference between a dress and a skirt...like I would never have know there was even a question

Pot - deep
pan- shallow

saucepan misleading but English language is WTF so

so a pot with a long handle on it is called a pan, is what you're all saying

like if a skirt had pockets you'd call it a dress or something

no you'd call it a skirt with pockets or a pot with a handle

do we need to set up a school for this

This is like when a guy asked me what is the difference between a dress and a skirt

seriously someone asked this?!

like if a skirt had pockets you'd call it a dress or something

tracer! no!

i'm kidding!! skirts and dresses have a clear demarcation between them, and that doesn't change because of some extraneous appendage

VegemiteGrrl do you seriously ask for "the pot with the handle" in the throes of cooking?? come on now.

no. pot - deep, pan - shallow.

you said "so a pot with a long handle is a pan?" to which I replied it is just a pot with a long handle, ie handle is not contingent to definition, at least imo

why would a pot have a long handle?

this is not a pan, obvs
http://www.startbreakingfree.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/carry-buckets11.jpg

yes, you have homed in on it - "saucepan" is to blame here

Uhhhh, hate to throw a (s)pan(ner) in the works here but chip pans aren't the shallowest either

Is THAT what a spanner is?! For some reason I had it in my head that a spanner was a another name for a divining rod or it was some other sort of navigational device. What was I thinking?

A pot is deep and has various types of handles.
A pan is much more shallow and used to fry/saute things

It's in the depth, not the handle
At least in my world, which is clearly a little subjective and often plainly wrong

Eh? You don't know what a spanner is? You've lost me... Chip pans are not shallow

i like your world, lechera :)

... "frying" is possibly more important than depth

Spanner is Brit English for wrench

A pot is deep and has various types of handles.
A pan is much more shallow and used to fry/saute things

This is correct.

You don't use the phrase "spanner in the works" then? Shame :(

wrench in the works!

ha! I guess it is a tool of some sort. I just spent the better part of an hour thinking a spanner was a special frying pan for potatoes, so hey -- truth is ~fluid~

Trying not to confuse the Americans further, chip pans are used to fry, errrrrrrrrrr, french fries

I grew up in Akron, Ohio. There were no spanners there except in Smiths cassettes I checked out from the public library. Lots of pots and pans though.
Even so, I know what a chip is :)

This must have confused a lot of people then:

http://www.tilleysvintagemagazines.com/gallery/bookLennonSpaniard.jpg

I'd imagine so.

What do you call a wrench then? If you call a spanner a wrench?

What do you call a wrench?

A spanner!

http://www.tudorshoppe.com/Merchant2/graphics/00000001/kitchen_wench.jpgwhaaaaa????

Oh right, you mean, what do we call a wrench as opposed to a spanner?

yes

pots and pans are not minimal pairs linguistically or otherwise
there are lots of differences between them

at least more than one

a wrench is a spanner on steroids.

a spanner is a non-adjustable wrench

Wiki'd it:

The term wrench refers to a type of adjustable spanner

But it's even more of a minefield than pots and pans

(xp)

wrench
http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/pipe-wrench-1.jpg

spanner
http://www.pearlcomponents.co.uk/store/images/uploads/spanner.jpg

adjustable spanner
http://www.fishing4fun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/spanner1.jpg

How do monkeys fit into this?

Either the first is a nmonkey wrench or the last is a monkey spanner. I'm no expert though.

Do you use wrench as a verb? For example, "I think I wrenched my back lifting that monkey into his bed"

Absolutely, "spannered" means getting drunk tho, I think

Do we use wrench as a verb? I don't think I've ever heard that before.

yeah, it's usually used as a synonym for "pull" when you're talking about injuring muscles (as La Lechera says)

Huh! I didn't know.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wrench

I'd forgotten about the emotional jerking definition

Whoa whoa whoa, take the emotional jerking to TMI.

It can be for other things, but it's not that common. Like wrenching something into place, connotes hard work and possibly also a circular motion?? Like, you wrench on one of these:

http://www.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_approve/4258706/2/istockphoto_4258706-boat-steering-wheel-cutout.jpg

oh duh like heartwrenching - of course

I just don't think I've ever heard anyone say it in terms of injuring themselves or something similar.

Yeah, it's not an Americanism, maybe not is use in all parts of the UK tho

in use... not is use

lol, read more fantasy books and you'll find more wrenching than you can shake a +4 Stick of Extreme Twisting at

In old Europe all cooking vessels were pans, and were shallow. That's because depth wasn't known yet - just look at early Medieval paintings for proof of this. When depth was invented, people realized they could keep more stuff in a pan by increasing the height. This was the birth of both pot and soup.

http://chestofbooks.com/travel/ireland/John-Stoddard-Lectures/images/An-Ancient-Celtic-Copper-Cauldron.png
that's deep

actually when is a monkey an ape?

heartwrenching

Is this not meant to be heartrending though?

Gut-wrenching is definitely a thing though.

What's the difference between a plot and a plan?

In old Europe all cooking vessels were pans, and were shallow. That's because depth wasn't known yet - just look at early Medieval paintings for proof of this. When depth was invented, people realized they could keep more stuff in a pan by increasing the height. This was the birth of both pot and soup.

― Tuomas, Wednesday, 16 March 2011 09:31 (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Is that from Sellar and Yeatman?

What's the difference between a plot and a plan?

― I'm Street but I Know my Roots (sonofstan), Wednesday, 16 March 2011 16:20 (36 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

a pot is tactical, a pan is strategic

A really good way to remember the difference between a pot and a pan is that Peter Pan has a longer *handle* than Pol Pot.

Would Pol Pot pan pot? That is the question.

Take a pol.

Ask not what Pol Pot's pot's not got, ask can Van Dam's gran's flan pan slam Japan, man.

Or casserole dishes which are clearly not dishes.

"A casserole, from the French for "saucepan", is a large, deep dish used both in the oven and as a serving vessel"

Yep, this clears things up.